Bird Bereft of Flight
by Kourin Lucrece
Summary: The events between the breaking of the curse and Jack's escape from the noose. Missing scenes, of a sort.
1. He's a Pirate

Bird Bereft of Flight  
  
By Kourin Lucrece  
  
Disclaimer: Disney happens to be a rich corporation. I, on the other hand, am merely an aspiring writer and actress of sorts who will most likely end up sitting in Central Park with a hat. Now, who do you think owns it?  
  
Author's Note: Evenin' mates! How be you this fine day? Now, if you will pardon any and all mistakes in the story (especially where plot is concerned...), keep in mine that this is my first PotC fanfic. I do so hope that it may live up to the example set by a great many predecessors and portray the characters properly. Pretty much this is my take on what may have happened between the whole affair on Isla de Muerte and Jack's ordeal with the hangman's noose. Comments are always appreciated!!  
  
Chapter 1: He's a Pirate  
  
The three figures in the small dinghy stared at the moonlit black waters, waters that were empty of the ship that should have been there. Elizabeth and Will both saw Jack's shoulders slump in defeat at the Pearl's absence. He had been so close!  
  
"I'm sorry Jack," Elizabeth whispered. And she truly was. She had known that they wouldn't stay. They saw the ship as rightfully theirs. After all, in the crew's eyes Jack had fallen behind and he owed AnaMaria a ship. The crew hadn't even attempted to aid help. They had told her all of that. But still, she had hoped... For Jack's sake if not for Will's...  
  
"They done what's right by them," the pirate captain's soft reply floated back. "Ye can't expect any more." He didn't sound as though he believed it, however. Ten years he had tried, only now succeeding, in getting his revenge on Barbossa and his crew but the Pearl was still gone. Yet another crew had taken his ship and abandoned him to certain death.  
  
No matter how any of the looked at the situation, it didn't seem fair. "Jack..." Will started, unsure of what to say. Despite his professed hatred for pirate's, the blacksmith's respect for the rather bizarre captain had gradually grown into something akin to hero-worship. He didn't see how Ana or Gibbs could have just left him behind.  
  
"Let it be lad," Jack interrupted. "Let it be."  
  
The remainder of the all too short trip back to the HMS Dauntless was silent as each one of them contemplated what fate awaited them on said ship. For Jack, he knew it was almost certain that he would be put to death. After all the things he had done in his lifetime there was little hope that either the Commodore or Governor could turn a blind eye and let him go. (as if they would even want to, for that matter...) Maybe the whelp would be able to get off, though. That thought helped slightly.  
  
Will himself was thinking very little of his impending punishment. His thoughts and Elizabeth's were running the same course: her engagement to Norrington. It had been to save his life that she agreed, true enough, but even if his acts of piracy were ignored Elizabeth would still be married to the Commodore. After all that he had done to get her back! Perhaps they both understood how Jack felt about the loss of the Black Pearl in their own ways.  
  
It was a very somber and subdued trio that finally reached the side of the navy's ship. Will and Jack quietly aided Elizabeth in climbing up the Dauntless and onto the deck, where she was promptly pulled up by Norrington and into a relieved hug by her father.  
  
Governor Swann's attention, however, quickly shifted to the two somewhat battered men who pulled themselves on board as well. Before he could even say a word, Elizabeth interrupted him.  
  
"Father, Commodore, please," she said. "These men saved my life!"  
  
Norrington looked at her with disapproval. "They are pirates, Elizabeth."  
  
"And through their piracy they saved me and you!"  
  
Her father cast a cold glance over the two topics of discussion. "Mister Turner." Will jumped and snapped to attention. "You will accompany myself and my daughter to my quarters and relate the events up to now." Will nodded and the Governor turned abruptly to face Jack. "As for Captain Sparrow..."  
  
"I know, I know," Jack said tonelessly, his usual flair completely absent. He held out his hands. "Clap me in irons."  
  
Despite the fact that Jack had said these same words not long before, all of the humor had left his voice. Even the guards looked slightly surprised. Norrington nodded anyway and one of the guards hurried forward to place the cuffs rather tightly on Jack's wrists. "Lieutenant, if you would be so kind, please escort Captain Sparrow to join his fellow pirates below deck." The tone in which the commodore said 'captain' was gratingly mocking, but the pirate's eyes continued to be seemingly captivated by the dirty blanks of the deck.  
  
As Jack was dragged away, Elizabeth turned desperately to face her father, pulling out of his arms. "Father, please!!"  
  
He silenced her with a look, but seeing her so distraught made it difficult. "It is for your own good as well as that of other citizens under the crown, my dear," he told her kindly. "Under the circumstances I can understand your attachment, but in time you will realize it is folly."  
  
"He is a good man," she protested, though she would never have said so to the captain himself. She just couldn't bear the thought of him being hung because he had helped Will save her.  
  
"He is a pirate." The Governor exchanged a glance with Norrington. "Elizabeth, Mister Turner, if you please..." They were guided to the room where Elizabeth had been before and the navy crew began preparing the Dauntless to sail back to Port Royal. The shouts of a working crew and the comforting rock of the ship were lost on both lovers as what Elizabeth realized was to be Will's trial began.  
  
* Was that it? Did I manage a cliffhanger? At all?? **hopeful** Sorry this was such a short chapter, the next one will be up soon. (In the meantime, reviews are always helpful!) I hope you liked this as much as I liked writing it! Bye for now. ~Mireya 


	2. The Opportune Moment

Bird Bereft of Flight  
  
By Kourin Lucrece  
  
Disclaimer: I really hope I don't look like a super cheerful mouse on steroids...  
  
Author's Note: Yay! I actually am writing! (lol) Anyway, seeing as I have gotten no reviews, I thank no one for reviews. **pouts** Is it really that bad?? Oh well, I apologize for my continued cruelty to Jack, but hey! We all know how it ends, right? Yeah, um... if anyone is reading this: THANK YOU!!!!  
  
Chapter 2: The Opportune Moment  
  
Jack was shoved roughly into the only cell below deck that remained empty. He stumbled and fell to his knees on the hard floor, too tired and sore to care that he looked clumsy. At least the pirates remaining from Barbossa's crew were too busy arguing amongst themselves to fully notice his presence. Apparently their return to humanity had not made them appreciate it and Jack currently lacked the fortitude to face them with his normal humor.  
  
Jack closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into a sitting position with his back pressed against the wall. He winced slightly as salt worked its way into some of his many cuts and scraped from the past few days, but the pirate reasoned that any pain was inevitably better than the horrifying numbness that had accompanied even his brief time under the curse. Just the thought of it caused him to shudder. The absolute nothingness that had come as Barbossa had stabbed him through would haunt him for a long while.  
  
For once the gentle rocking of the ship beneath him did nothing to ease his nerves and the pirate found his mind reeling as it tried to assess his current situation. How had he gotten here? After all this time, why should he end up like this? He was supposed to be on the Pearl. He was supposed to be free.  
  
But the boat was Ana's now. He had owed her a boat and the Interceptor was long gone, lost to Davey Jones locker. A part of him reasoned that at least it was AnaMaria and Gibbs who now sailed his beloved Pearl, but it did little to ease his mind. The pirate was still injured and cold, a prisoner of the blood English Navy who was set to be hung. Jack flexed his still bleeding left had and admitted that the opportune moment wouldn't come. Not for him, not this time.  
  
In the back of his mind, Jack wondered how things would have worked out if he had never come into possession of that bloody compass, leading to Isla de Muerte. It seemed that many of his trouble had sparked from that lovely little discovery. Perhaps, had he never found it, he would still be captain of the Black Pearl, sailing free as the bird for which he was named. That was an unreasonable thought, though, and he knew it. The crew had been unhappy anyway. He had always attempted not to spill more blood than necessary, they had wanted more of it and their crazy captain's antics and plots brought them more danger than their victims.  
  
Bootstrap, though, he had been different. Bill had understood and even agreed with the young captain. Barbossa had once too, but greed had blinded him long before it had old Bill Turner. So, while it had really been painful when Barbossa, once Jack's closest friend, had organized and led the mutiny against him, it had been worse that Bill had followed.  
  
He wondered where Bill was now. Had he escaped from his water prison? Or had Jack killed him as surely as he had Barbossa in aiding Will in breaking the curse? Again, images of his last fight with Barbossa flashed through the pirate's head and the picture of an apple among the piles of gold stayed.  
  
With a sigh, Jack tore his thoughts away from the curse and the events follow its end and focused them on Will and Elizabeth. Will would be cleared of charges, he was sure. After all, the boy was young and his actions could all be rationalized by the fact that they were done to save the governor's daughter from pirates. Besides, there was no way that fiery lass would allow Will to be hung. He was touched that she had tried to help him as well, but had known it wasn't worth the effort. After all, he was the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow - there was no way they could just let him go free.  
  
It was a shame that Elizabeth was set to marry the commodore, bloody navy fool that he was. Eunuch or not, Will obviously didn't know any better ways to woo said strumpet. (Not that Elizabeth would take kindly to be calling a strumpet...) Honestly, seeing the two of them dance circles around each other and the issue of being in love was almost painful. The smile brought a hint of the usual crooked smirk to Jack's face. He figured that Elizabeth would find a way, as Will obviously wasn't going to, to wed her blacksmith 'pirate'. And a damned good pirate he'd be, Jack thought with approval. A little too rash and a nasty streak of British morality, but those things could be fixed...  
  
Following that much lighter train of thought, Jack leaned his head back and tried to drift off to sleep despite the noise of arguing that he had almost tuned out. He'd save thinking about the problems presented to him for tomorrow.  
  
* Well, what do you think? I know that chapter wasn't much longer than the one before it, but if I follow the story map that I made up this will most likely end up being a ten-chapter story. If you review, the next chapter might get up sooner than if you leave me to my own devices!! (and who am I talking to? no one read it yet...) Bye for now, mates! ^.~ 


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